"I missed you too," Hannah replies, holding up a coloring book with zoo animals on the cover. "Look what Mommy got me."
"Ooh," Elle says, flipping through the pages. "You're going to have so much fun coloring these cool animals."
"Will you color with me?" Hannah asks.
"Of course," Elle replies, reaching for the box of crayons. "Your dad just told me you have a nanny. What's her name?"
"Gabby," Hannah says, opening the book and spreading it flat on the bed.
Elle slips off the bed and sits on the rug next to Hannah, ready to color a large tiger, while Hannah tackles the cubs on the other page.
"Is Gabby nice?" Elle asks, filling in the tiger’s stripes with an orange crayon.
"Uh-huh," Hannah replies, not offering much more. Her face is set in concentration as she outlines the fence enclosure around the tiger cubs.
"Is she older, like Grandma Jo?" Elle asks casually. "Or is she younger, like your mommy?"
"She's nineteen," Hannah says. "She's in grade fourteen."
I hold back a chuckle threatening to escape. "So she's in college?" I ask.
"Yes," Hannah says. "She said she's a soph... soph... sophomore? I asked if that was past fifth grade, and I counted up until I said fourteen. She said, 'Yes, the fourteenth grade is a sophomore in college.'"
"Hannah Banana," I begin gently. "How long did Gabby watch you?"
Hannah lifts her hand, counting one, two, three fingers. "Three."
"Three hours?" Elle asks, meeting my gaze.
"Three days," Hannah corrects. "Her bedroom is next to mine at Mommy's house."
My heart sinks, and Elle immediately senses the shift in my mood.
"So you, your mommy, and Gabby spent three days together?" Elle asks. "What did you all do?"
"We opened gifts," Hannah says. "We played games, hide-and-seek, jumped rope in the backyard, watched cartoons, and two movies."
"Did Gabby go home to see her family while you were there?" I ask.
"Nope!" she responds. "Gabby never left."
"Did your mommy leave?" Elle asks, the question that’s been eating at me.
Hannah nods. "Mommy was there, and we opened all my gifts together. She loved the necklace I gave her."
"What about after that?" I ask, holding my breath.
"She left," Hannah says. "Then she came back to pick me up and bring me back home."
I close my eyes and swallow the lump in my throat. A surge of anger and frustration threatens to spill out, but as soon as I meet Elle’s gaze, a sense of calm washes over me. I nod to reassure her I’m okay.
We all grow quiet, the only sound in the room being the soft swish of crayons moving across the pages of the coloring book. It fills the silence just enough to distract, but not enough to ease the tension building around us.
"Daddy," Hannah says, making both Elle and me focus on her. "Is it true that I'm going to live with Mommy next year?"
"What?" I say, trying to keep my tone even.
"Gabby said," Hannah adds.
